New things on Etsy

In case you all were wondering.... a few new things over at Blue Bird Crafting

nautical burp cloths

{the next best thing to airplanes}

Stars and Stripe burp cloths

 a 3 star service banner

{and we also have a double star and of course the classic blue star}

  a patriotic wall hanging 

{in small and large sizes}

{which would look mighty nice hanging next to a service star if you already have one}

Check us out!

control your kid dude

I'm really not a prick.  I'm not.

{I feel like I have to begin this kinda post this way}

I like to think that I'm a nice mama type, but even I have to draw the line somewhere.  And last night it was drawn in the sand and then stomped over repeatedly.

I should also mention that I'm a fan of personal space and so are my kids.  {Ironically my kids are not fans of MY personal space, only theirs but I'm hoping this might change someday.}

This week was one of those weeks, started off rocky but ended rather nicely, as a reward for surviving, relatively unscathed, the boyos and I headed to McDonald's for some play and an early dinner.  Usually its uneventful, with the exception of being mildly weirded out by the thought of all the lingering germs, the boys play nicely, they eat, sometimes I even get to sit in peace and read a magazine while dash-3 chomps on some apples.  Win win for everyone.

Last night was the exception. 

As the mom its my solemn duty to hand out and set up food.  If I don't do this, the kids will toss everything aside and play with the toy and dash-2 takes the opportunity to confiscate and hoard all the carmel packets that I'm usually able to convince him we didn't get. 

I'm busy getting nuggets divided up, ketchup handed out, and what do you know but some girl {probably about 5...old enough to know better} comes and sits at our table.  I look up to see dash-1 staring at her like her head is on backwards because she had grabbed his happy meal toy and was rolling it on the FLOOR. 

I told her, nicely, that we don't put our toys on the floor here and that it was his toy and he had just gotten it and he was looking at it.  She apparently didn't care.  I gently took the toy away from her and set it over on his side of the table.  {Though I'd like to mention that the whole damn side of the table was his side of the table!}

Then she hones in on dash-3 pacy and picks it up by the sucky part, "what's this?"  It's his pacy, please don't touch it.  Then she tries to grab his juice, "what's this?"  Really?  It's his juice please don't touch it. 

I'm really not on of those neurotic mothers, old ladies {and little girls in regards to dash3} pat my kids on the head or face all the time, I just smile and nod.  It's not going to kill them.  But putting your paws on my kids juice straw and pacy does piss me off a bit. 

I looked up to get her fathers attention and he sees that she's over here bothering us.  Yeah, that's right I said bothering.  Look, I get that kids are curious, I get that kids don't always know right and wrong its our job to teach them that, but my kids, darn well know not to go sit at someone's table and bother them during a meal. 

I told my boys to go play and the dad came to get the little girl so they could go get some food or something, but then I hear screaming, she's chasing dash-2 around.  And he didn't like it so much. 

He's going thru the anti girl stage.  He's raised in a house of free flowing testoterone, girls are weird to him.  I make sure he understands that he has to be polite but he's weirded out by them at this point of his little life, so having her chase him around trying to "tag" him was not going to end well.

He ran over to sit next to me, actually he tried to sit under me but it wasn't happening, He's yelling, "leave me alone, leave me alone, I don't want to play!"  I told him just to ignore if he didn't want to play nicely, he turns to eat his food and she wacks him on the back. 

Oh sweet Jesus.

He moved so quickly to lunge at her, thankfully, I am a well trained mom and moved quicker and grabbed his shirt as he was flailing to get at her.  Again, I tried to explain to her, "sweetie he doesn't really want to play right now, he can be kind of shy."  So she tries AGAIN.  There is part of me that wishes I could have just let dash-2 at it, but that would have been wrong.  I know I should have grown a set of balls and told the father this was just ridiculous that he needed to control his child, but well, I'm kinda a wimp.  And I was trying to calm dash-2 down and use this as some sort of teachable moment as to why we don't act like wild savages in public.

The boys kinda of gave up on playing and came back over to eat.  And then she came back.  She actually was pushing dash-1 over so she could squeeze in the booth, I told her, gently, that he didn't need to scoot over but damn she's persistant.  She ten tries to start grabbing their food. 

And again, I correct her, I'm seriously losing my patience.  I really enjoy sitting with them and discussing their day, what's going on, what weekend plans are, I really enjoy that time.  And this is beyond ridiculous.  He looks over and smiles, I shoot a death look, he eventually comes over and just stands over the table.  Are you serious you giant moron? 

Dash-2 said it perfectly, "I just wanna go home." Perfect lets go.  All in all we were in the play area for 10 mins.  I'm shocked we lasted that long.

I'm sure I looked like a douche bag mom because I didn't want to entertain some other kid but here's a newsflash, just because I'm a mom doesn't mean I want to mother your kid.  I realize someone told you it takes a whole village to raise a kid, but it really helps a lot if you do some of the raising first. 

I had my hands full, I was trying to enjoy my time with my kids.  One of the things that can be hard when your spouse is away a lot is feeling like you really connect with your kids, so much time is spent getting the necessities done, making sure everyone is feed, lunch is packed, book bags together, homework done, therapies attended, baths, bedtime, laundry, that sometimes, you feel like connecting gets lost in the shuffle.  I don't need some one butting into that time.

I'm annoyed more with that father.  It's his job to teach his kid how to behave and since, right in front of him, she was also standing on TOP of a table and set off the emergency exit alarm I'm going to go out on a limb and say that someone is sleeping on the job.

He dude, let me give you a little fyi, not everyone thinks your kid is as cute as you do, not everyone wants to be graced with her presence.  I figured that out a looong time ago, just cause my kids are adorable to me does not mean everyone in the free world wants to hang out with them.

Blizzard blog hop - hola folks!

We have broken January's record for snow fall this winter, and rumor has it that we're getting more next week.  If any of you in a snow less place are praying for snow, please stop, it seems to be coming to us instead.  We're good.  Really.

Anyways with all this snow why not kick up my feet and join Household 6 Diva for her Blizzard Bloghop. A blog meet n greet if you will.

But thanks to the interweb, combing your hair and looking presentable is optional.  Suhweet!

To the newbies WELCOME to my little corner of the world!


I go by the mrs. around here. Yup, that's me, stay at home mom extraordinaire. Or something like that.

I'm mama to three rambunctious boys known as the dash brothers {they go by dash-1, 2, 3, around here} are ages 6, 4, and 1 and the wife of a Marine.  In case you're wondering the days are filled with laundry,  feeding children, wiping butts, dodging nerf bullets, and tripping over flight boots.

Our house is in constant, varying stages of chaos, but the blog fodder is endless. I mean really, post about things they say or show n tell just write themselves. {hold on to your hats folks, today was show n tell for dash-2, a post to come no doubt.}

 I've been married to my devilishly handsome flyboy of a husband for eight years. Not only is he quite a husband but he's a fantastic father and a heck of a shot with a nerf gun, but he looks fan-friggin-tastic in his flight suit.

Oh and he too provides blog fodder.


I started this blog to just have an outlet to write and clear my head. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, how long I would stick with it, or if anyone would ever even read it.  Does anyone still read it? I didn't know if it would be a mommy blog or a military blog and it's turned into a catch all sorta thing.



Oh and I love me hosting swaps and giveaways.

And I love me some etsy {shameless plug} - especially the store I help my mother with, Blue Bird Crafting which sells these beautiful service stars....


Now that's really about it...thanks for stopping by!


And comment. I live for comments.

Oh and come find me on twitter as mrs_flyboy

Seperations and kids

Separations suck.  Time apart from your spouse sucks in a very very big way.  However, time apart for kids sucks a whole lot more.  It's painful for them, its painful for us, pardon me while I use this word again, but it sucks for all involved.

I hate one uppers I do, and I don't mean to one up those of you without kids, but those of you with kids are all out there nodding your heads.

Dash-2 is in the thick of a very hard stage around here.  The "missing daddy to the point of irrational nastiness" stage.  It's great fun.  Just today I was told, in full on crying tears on the way to Target, that he hated me, after all, I'm the one who wants daddy gone and won't let him come home.

Really now?

He does have a point though, if I let daddy come home I wouldn't get to keep all the pooping, germies, night wakings, homework time, you know, all that fun stuff to myself.  I mean really, who wants to share poop duty?!  Ummm not me, I want all that glory to myself!

Yesterday in school he got his jacket on midmorning and stood by the door ready to go.  When they wouldn't let him go, because despite his convincing that he could walk the 5 miles home they made an executive decision to not let him go, he did the next rational thing, he took his shoes off.  

Bless his heart, its hurting.  I know this. I can see it, I can feel it, but damn it if there isn't much I can do for him. 

Dash-1 went thru this stage at about the same age, however I don't remember it being quite this painful.  I think its a combo of being slightly less sensitive than dash-2 and we weren't in the school cycle so it was easier for us to go visit family and keep him otherwise occupied.

I have hope, dash-1 made it thru relatively unscathed, I made it thru relatively unmarred, and my house is still standing, but I'm starting to doubt that all that will stay in tact with dash2.

Dash-1 is now in a good place, sure he misses flyboy when he's away, the constant coming and goings is hard on me and I'm 30, I know its hard on my almost 6 year old, but he gets it now: it's daddy's job, this is what he does he doesn't like to be away but he has to be, and he'll be back. 

Dash-3 is fairly oblivious, I'm sure he misses flyboy as well but his world pretty much revolves around who ever is here to feed and water him and right now that's me so I'm his everything.  If the cows ever figured out how to move into our house and feed him then he'd be more than happy to follow them around everywhere.

But dash-2.  Dash-2 is not ok with our life right now.  He flips from happy to sad and angry at the drop of the hat.  My master manipulator is not manipulating he is hurting.

I've done all the standard things, countdowns so that he can see when he is coming home {good until plans change, not something a 4 yr old gets or cares to understand}, I found a wallet size picture of flyboy to carry with him in his back pocket, I've told him when he's missing daddy to come tell me and I'll give him a hug, we name 5 things about daddy we miss, 5 things we can't wait to do when he comes home, we talk to flyboy when his schedule allows.  That's it.  I'm out of ideas.

Life is great when flyboy comes home and then as quick as he's home he's gone again, dash-2 goes back to hurting and I go back to being the scape goat.  I've given extra love, I've laid down the law, I've tried to ignore somethings and held him accountable for others, but much like him, I'm nearing the end of my rope.

The cow pen is starting to look like a relaxing, {granted very cold, snowy and smelly} place to live. 

Time apart isn't easy for anyone, yeah yeah yeah we signed up for this life, however in the trenches that doesn't really help much.  Even if it's our life, even if its the way its going to be for years to come, even if its the way it's always been, its hard.  And it can be really hard on the little guys, whom I'd like to point out, did not sign up for this, they are just along for the, room and board included, ride.

To those of you out there with kids, what things do you do with your kids?  Was there any particular age that seemed the most painful in dealing with separations?

Would you?

On my way to fetch dash-1 from school {he could ride the bus but ever since the afternoon driver left him on the bus the second day of school he, surprisingly, isn't keen on riding home from school} I saw a car pulled over on the side of the road.  Like everything in life it got me thinking..... here goes....

So the guy looked like a college age kid, he was walking around his car, looking mighty pissed off, having just had "car issues" {mine turned out to be that my 5 yr old let marbles loose in the car jamming the seat down holding my spare tire hostage, probably not this guys problem} I could relate to the look on his face.

The road was the main drag thru the village, not a total desolate road, a horse farm a little bit ahead, the village itself about 3 miles away.  I felt bad for the guy.  Car problems suck.  I thought about stopping to see if he needed some help, not that I was going to change the guys tire if that's what was wrong or be of any use assessing the situation, but I felt kinda bad just blowing by. 

But at the same time, in the back of my head, I thought, there is no way I am ever stopping this car to help someone, you never know these days.  Even if its some old lady, maybe she's the bait.

Clearly I have watched too many Criminal Minds episodes. 

Yet, really, now days, safety first right? 

Flyboy, once back in his younger, stupider days, stopped to helped someone in the pouring rain, long story short she asked him for a ride to her crack daddy's house.  Awkward.  He's since adopted a very leary stopping policy.  He'll shovel out old ladies in parking lots till the cows come home but he's thinking long and hard before ever stopping again.

So would you stop?  Have you stopped? Does it make a difference if its a man or a woman?  Older or younger? Day or night? Whether or not you've ever watched Criminal Minds?

Go talk amongst yourselves, report back, I'll be here.....

It's all in the bag

Ever wonder what the mrs. is dragging around in her purse?   Admit it, who isn't ever curious about someones purse?  It's like a mobile medicine cabnet and I don't mean in the harboring medicine way, more in the telling a lot about a person sorta way.

So thanks to Ashley over at A Hasty Life now you have an answer.  She's hosting a blog crawl that is bag related. 



This is the bag I seem to use the most these days, much to Flyboy's chagrin.

I have quite a few designer bags that he's bought for me, but this one just works so well.  I love the prints, I love the corduroy, I love that it holds everything and there isn't a zipper or anything so I can just grab at it.

This bag is perfect... its almost as if it were made with me in mind.... OH WAIT IT WAS! By my lovely, etsy artisan mama. 


And look at how nicely organized it is!   Would you believe that it fits alll.....

THIS!

I haven't a clue how to number things in the picture so starting from the back left corner here goes:

*The black zipper bag is dash-1's epi pen holder which holds 2 epi pens.


*The sport themed notebook is just a little book I grabbed off the dining room table and tossed in my purse to keep notes {blog ideas, errands, that kinda stuff} as I think of it.  


*My checkbook is in there.


*Citrus scented antibacterial lotion from bath and body works.


*Dash-3's sippy cup. {Apple juice if your wondering}


*Random juice box that always comes in handy when one of the boys asks for it.


*Gloves because its cold.  Really cold these days.


*My last shout wipe, so handy how do people NOT have these in their purses?


*The white rectangle is dash-1's Nintendo DS, he had a late opening today so he played with that while I did my thang at the gym.  {alright its Curves but its still a workout people}


*Perhaps my most important thing in my purse.... my crackberry.  How I ever survived without a blackberry I haven't a clue.  I love that little piece of electronics.  A lot.  A whole lot.


*A hair clip.


*A cadbury egg, who doesn't carry one of those around in a purse?


*Lip glosses, one just a shimmer and the other is a sugar exfoliating one, both from bath and body works.


*A lone matchbox car.


*2 random crayons.


*4 crystal light packets {2 lemonades and 2 strawberry energy flavored}


*My coach wallet that is like my purse, it can fit ANYTHING!


*My coach watch which for some reason has been living in my purse rather than on my wrist.


*My coin purse.


*The airplane zipper pack holds 3 diapers, butt cream, and wipes for my darling dash-3. 

And there you have it.  Everything I carry around on my shoulder on any given day.  What does it say about me?  Clearly its not just saying it, its yelling it, I'M A MOM!

I don't recall crayons or matchbox cars in my purse before motherhood....

Curious what other, cooler people have in their bags?  {I'm going out on a limb that I'm the lamest mommy fart in this blog crawl, the other seem like much cooler trendier folks} Check out The Dishy Decorator who shared her bag yesterday and The World As I See It who is sharing her bag tomorrow.

Thanks for taking a peak at mine!

Time for my answers

* On a hot dog, there MUST, must, be ketchup, mustard, onions, chili, cheese, all that other stuff would be delightful but a hot dog can not be consumed unless ketchup is on it.  Hmmm, now I'm thinking about having chili dogs one night this week.....

* I'm guessing my answer to the stay at home or working mom question is fairly obvious.  Bonus points to you guys who guessed my answer would be stay at home mom. 

There are times I think having a job and outside interaction might be an aid to my sanity, but especially with flyboy's schedule and our lifestyle, being the constant fixture around all the time works for us. Not to mention I do firmly believe if I give birth to the little booger machines then it's my job to raise them, and in my own opinion {deep breaths people} if they are in daycare for a majority of the week than some of that is being taken on by other people.

Holy crap I'm waiting for the nasty grams for that one.  But its just my opinion folks.  And really, when it comes to parenting, whos to say what's right, shoot I could be going about this all wrong....

* When I got married, without a second thought, I took my husband's name.  Don't get me wrong I loved my maiden name, but I was marrying my husband and we were becoming our own little family and a new name came with it. 

That and flyboy would have had a shit fit had I hyphenated. And I'm lazy and didn't want to have a name that long.

* I love ice cream.  I love cake.  I love ice cream cake.  I do not, however, like ice cream AND cake.  I hate it when the ice cream starts to melt and runs into the cake and then the cake gets soggy and little cake bits are floating in your ice cream.  Yuck. Its like having lint in your ice cream.

And who wants that?

For my birthday I had cake. Just cake.  A kick ass vanilla cake with amazing vanilla icing that all happened to be egg free, incredibly yummy, and beautiful to boot.  Dash-3's PT happens to also be a baker and what do you know, she specializes in allergy baking.

So while I'll certainly never ever EVER turn down ice cream or ice cream cake, when it all comes down to it, my answer is CAKE.

* Right now my bff is my blackberry, or rather, my crackberry.  I pink puffy heart it.  A lot.  I tweet from it, I take pics on it, I send and read my emails, the boys watch videos off you tube while we wait at the doctors, all sorts of good stuff.

But. 

I hear such great things about I phones.  Flyboy is chomping at the bit to get one and now that verizon has them he most likely will {he had a storm blackberry and HATES it with a passion.  I have the good old classic and tried to talk him out of the storm, needless to say he didn't listen}. 

I'm torn, to switch or not to switch.  I just started playing around with my Ipod touch {shhh don't tell my mom it was a birthday present waaay back in Sept} and I could see why so many people like it, but, I do so love my crackberry.

I'll have to think it over.



Thanks for everyone who left their answers, I enjoy learning more about you guys, and well, knowing what someone likes on a hot dog is quite informative.  Especially if I ever host a bar-b-q for yall.

Oh and check back tomorrow... tomorrow I'll be showing off my bag for a blog crawl.  Isn't everyone out there curious to see what's in my purse?  I'm keepin it real too, I'm not cleaning it out first, that's cheating, so Lord knows what's in there.

Random Questions for you

I thought up this post as I was driving home today, dash-2 was sleeping, dash-3 was eating some apples and humming, and dash-1 was taking a {very} brief break from talking and was watching his movie so the car was deafeningly quiet. 

I was thinking about random questions, I'll ask the questions here and then I'll share my answers the next day in a seperate post.  {Because we all know I'm mercilessly long winded so if I asked and answered the post would be horrifically long}

Some questions are just off the cuff questions, some might be more debatable and by that I mean might spark more of a reaction. Some maybe simple answers, some more longwinded, some will make you think, some laugh, some I have no idea how I got on this train of thought, sometimes its best not to go back and try to figure out what I was thinking, just go with it.  So here I go.

On a hot dog are you a ketchup or mustard kinda person?  Or both?  Or nothing?


Which would you prefer to be a stay at home mom or working mom?


Take your husband's last name or keep your maiden name?


Ice cream or cake? Or ice cream cake?


Blackberry or I phone?

Alright, that's all that I can remember for now.  It's too bad that its illegal to type and drive at the same time, granted it is the name of public safety but it sure would up the level of my blogging.

♥ Last Call for the Valentine Swap ♥

Two more days to sign up for the Valentine's Swap!

If you want to read the original full post you can go here, its got more of my long winded rambling  I've tried to just hit the high points in this post as a refresh and to catch anyone who "forgot" to sign up already.

Obviously you forgot, because I can't imagine you just wouldn't have signed up.

Shoot I'm getting long winded again aren't I?

This is a simple swap:

-there isn't a limit to spend as much as I figure $10 bucks is a nice number. 

-try to get your package to your partner as close to Feb 14 as possible

and last but not least

DO NOT SIGN UP IF YOU AREN'T GOING TO FOLLOW THRU!

That's really it.  

Send some yummy treats, find some pink things, make homemade valentines, think outside the box and do whatever you think your partner might like.

♥Wanna sign up?♥

Send an email answering the following simple questions to tryingourbest @ yahoo . com 

♥

Name

Email

Mailing address

Blog address {if you have one}

****ANY FOOD ALLERGIES***

Any favorite Valentine candies?  

Are you willing to mail to an APO?FPO address? {This does not cost you any additional postage, the only difference is that you will need to fill out a simple customs form}

Anything you want to add?

♥

Again, please don't sign up if you aren't going to follow thru, its not fair to your partner.  Sign up's will be open until Jan 19.  My goal is to have swap partner's assigned and emails sent out with everyone's info by the end of that week.

The goal of every swap is for everyone to have fun.  

I try my best to organize everything and be available to help out anyone who needs it. I'm hope you'll all sign up and have fun!

♥Spread the word, share the link and lets spread some Valentine cheer!♥ 

Also if you're participating in the swap it helps {but its certainly not required} if you follow this blog and my twitter @mrs_flyboy  this way you will see when I post messages or updates about the swap.

New Year, New Look, New Opportunities

I'm starting out this year with a few new things one of them being a new look.

Just so you know, I'm not going overboard, I'm still firmly entrenched in my mommy uniform which in it of itself is a whole other post, but there is a new look around the old blogo.  Ironically I am still wearing some of the same clothes I wore in college but yet I get a new blog design every year.

New colors, a tweak here or there on the layout and sidebar, a bit of a cleaner, fresher look, but don't worry, the content is still the same.

Perhaps that should bring some worry with it.  But come on, what's life without the dash brother stories to liven it up?

As for the new opportunities, I'm going to be a contributing blogger for About One which is a fantastic site for managing your family life and all of our important documents, very useful for you military folk who are constantly pcs'ing around and even for us, more, stationary military folk.  Who knows?  Maybe this year really will be the year I get everything organized.

My bio and pic, yes that's right! A picture! Of me! Should be up in the next few days, I'll let you all know when it's up.  I'll be writing for the Stars and Stripes section on military life.  I think I might know a thing or two about that.

However, now I have writers block.  I'd appreciate input...  What do you think I should be writing about?  Anything specific?  Anything you would like to see address?

From the dash brothers

Here for your reading pleasures, I share with you the words of the dash brothers.

Dash-2 "Mom, you're a babe."  {As a bit of backstory flyboy calls me babe so this wasn't totally out of left field.}

me "Oh thank you my sweet! Can I be a hot babe?"

dash-2 "No you can't, its too cold."

me "Oh well, I'll take what I can get."


Dash-1 "Mom you know what would be fun?"

me "What?"

dash-1 "A snowmobile."

me "Sure thing, I'll get right on that."

dash-2 "You know what would be fun?"

me "what?"

dash-2 "A dinosaur."

me "Honestly I'm not sure which one of you stands a better chance of getting what you want."


I loved this one.... Dash-1 showered this little nugget on me last weekend in the check out at Target....

Dash-1 "Mom, dad works so we have money right?"

me "Yup, he has a job just like you have to go to school."

dash-1 "Well I think its very nice that daddy lets you have his money."


Dash-2 was in tears the other day at the thought of having his own family and having to move out of our house.

Dash-2 "I will never, ever, move.  I will never get married.  I don't like girls."

me "Where are you going to live?"

dash-2 "I'm going to live with you forever."

me "Forever?"

dash-2 "Forever.  Like forever forever.  It'll be fun."

I'm in tears at the thought of having my grown son live with me forever forever.


Dash-2 "I don't wanna give valentine's to any of the girls in my class.  I don't wanna give them the wrong idea."


Car rides are full of great lines....

Dash-2 "what's that smell?"

dash-1, with full authority, "Oh that's New Jersey."


Those are just a couple reasons that I keep my kiddos around, not only are they adorable {because they are adorable} but they are delightful and hilarious.  It's also yet another reason to follow me on twitter.

Oh and don't forget! You still have some time to sign up for the valentine's day swap! Go here for more info!

Who am I?

I've been putting something off for a couple of days.  Well not really putting it off, more like trying to figure out what to say.  I had to write a bio about myself.  Sounds awful right?

And to make matters worth, it wasn't anything major, just a couple lines.  How hard is a couple of lines about yourself.  Especially when I have YEARS written about me here. 

{Sidenote: would that be irony? I'm quite confused about that word since Alanis Morisette did the song about it and every English major got their panties in a crunch about the incorrect usage of the word.}

I had the email up on my laptop for two days trying to figure out what to say about my life.  How do you sum up what you do in 3 words.  Within the first line where the words wife and mom.  Obviously, I mean I am a wife and mother.  A stay at home mom at that.  Then when I went to expand on that I drew a blank. 

A blank that lasted 3 days and ended up with a few moments of thinking, holy crap is there nothing to me outside of motherhood?

Here's the thing, motherhood is it right now.

That's who I am. 

I'm dash-1's mom.

I'm dash-2's mom.

I'm dash-3's mom.

Oh and I'm flyboy's wife.

I change diapers, I wipe butts, I pick out clothes, help kids get dressed, do laundry, make breakfast and lunch, oh and dinner.

I help with homework,  take group snack in for class, come up with nifty edible crafts for class parties, organize gifts for the teachers, I write little notes to stick in lunches.

I make sure everyone has what they need when they go out the door, I wipe faces off, remind people to wash their hands after picking their noses, check boo boos when they fall, I sit butts in time out for nastiness, I read stories and kiss foreheads.

That's what I do.


I don't work outside the home, I don't have an office, I don't get a paycheck, I'm *just* a mom.  

That's who I am.

I kinda like it.

So I'm more than ok with that being the crux of my bio.

Though just to clarify, with the exception of the lunch and dinner thing, flyboy does all that stuff on his own.  I'm just here to love and support him.  He's quite able, thankfully, to wipe his own butt. 
 
{When my bio is published I'll link it up and let you guys know!}

A PSA on parenting

I have a smidgen of a parenting PSA here.  This is important for parents and all you yet to spawn folks. Tonight I shall be addressing the need for people to, well, quite simply, back the f- off other moms.

Don't get me wrong, I'm guilty of a spilt second judgment calls sometimes.  I will admit, {ahem} from time to time, raising an eyebrow, rolling my eyes, thinking to myself, "that mother has feral animals for kids" or even worse, "does she ever parent them?"

I know I shouldn't but hey, I'm human. 

But since I'm closing in on 6 yrs of parenting under my belt I find I'm doing this less and less. 

I'm finding parenting is great for personal growth, bad for personal shame, since its been the same number of years since I last closed the bathroom door, but hey, you can't have it all.

I like to think I'm a pretty decent parent. I have pretty good kids, who are fairly polite and well behaved in public, but folks, life happens, kids, small kids and big kids alike have crappy days.  Shoot us parents have bad days! Just because a kid is throwing a knock down hissy fit in Target does not a bad parent make.

When dash-1 was discharged from the hospital 2 wks ago, he fell in the elevator.  He didn't break anything, he fell on his kester, and it just set him off.

So here I am, carrying 2 bags, his little book bag, holding his balloons and dragging my 5 year old hysterically crying child to find the door. Not to mention that the hospital was under construction so we had to wind our way thru the maze to find the parking garage that neither of us had been too yet because we came in thru another entrance in an ambulance.

Good times.


I got several dirty looks.  I'm pretty sure I overheard one person say something about look at that mom can't shut up her kid.

No, no I can not. 

Nor did I care too.  Poor kid had had a helluva week.  He was tired, he was still on the mend from pneumonia, he wanted to get home, and he had just fallen on his ass and to him, in that moment that was the straw that broke his back. 

I'm the mom.  I know my kid.  I knew at that moment, no standing outside the elevator trying to soothe him was going to work, I was going to get his ass to the door and hope the cold air knocked some sense into him.

Hey what do you know, it did.

The point of all that was that, sometimes, as parents, we find ourselves in painful, often embarrassing situations, that to an outsider might make it look like we are clueless idiots.

We are not.  Well not most of the time.  Sometimes we are, but thats another post.

So I'd like to offer some tips:

-Do not stare, move on.  If it were your kid throwing the fit would you like an audience?  No, no you would not.

-Do not say obnoxious things loud enough for us to hear, {"oooh look, see that boy screaming and crying.  Do we act like that?  No no we don't.  Only babies scream and cry.  Mommy doesn't tolerate behavior like that." } Sure this might be a parenting moment for you but we don't need to hear it.

-Do not try to calm down our kid.  You might have the best intentions at heart, but if we thought we could get them calm we would.  What do you think we are masochist? Or sometimes we might just be ignoring it.  Because, like the government, parents shouldn't negotiate with terrorist. 

-Yes, we know that if our kid is acting like an ass we should just leave, and most of the time we will, however, remember, that's not always possible.  Dash-2 once had a total meltdown in Target but since the Tampon fairy didn't get the memo to deliver to my house, flyboy was away for a couple weeks and dammit, I was staying in the checkout line despite his screaming. 

- Please, don't offer us tips, even really good ones, I mean I love tips, but I find that during nastiness is not the most receptive time for us to appreciate them.  And don't compare our kids to your pets.  Really, a story about your misbehaving poodle, while it maybe funny, is again not going to be appreciated.

The most important part of this post, cause I know I ramble and everything gets all jumbled up, try not to judge.  

Let us suffer our brief parental indignity, after all, this is just another joy of parenting, we have to go thru this now so that we don't totally crumble of loneliness when they eventually leave the nest a decade and a half from now.

If your kids are still cute and cuddly or you're not quite at the kids stage yet, do not snark, trust me, if parenting has taught me anything its that what goes around comes around.  At some point your child will throw down in public.  It's inevitable.  Do not turn your nose at that mom, one day, mark my words, you will be that mom. 


Hmmm, that might be the second most important point to take away from this post.

Cut her the slack that you'd like to be cut when its your turn.

Now I should say add that there are in fact crappy parents out there who do crazy stuff that I think is just screaming for me to snark about case in point when you fill up your kids baby bottle with mellow yellow from the soda fountain.  But like I've said before.... that's another post.

Hey I said I was working on personal growth, I didn't say I had fully attained it yet. 

But really, we should all remember, its either been us or it will be us one day, screaming child, frayed nerves, staring bystanders.  Lets work on being a little more civil k folks?

Anything I've left out?



Oh and don't forget about the Valentine Day Swap Sign Ups!

Valentines Day Swap Sign-ups!

I'm stoked for Valentine's Day.  Anxious for my 4 dozen mixed colored roses and candlelight dinner with my love?  Hardly.  As much as I love my husband, a romantic, mushy Valentine remembering, whispering sweet nothing kinda guy he is not.

In fact, he has a pesky habit of being in a different state or continent this time of year. 

I usually spend my v-day sitting in my bed or on my couch after the kids have gone to sleep eating myself-purchased Whitman's sampler.  Here's the thing, do not pity me, that's a fine night in my book.

Hmmm... Is that kinda sad?

But yet I get excited when I see the red ♥ hearts hanging on the Target ceiling come out.  February is a big month in our house, birth month of not just flyboy but also my first baby, my ever growing boy dash-1.

Not to mention come those red hearts in the store I know that Easter candy is just around the corner. And outside of my husband and 3 little ones, my true love lies with easter candy.

So why not celebrate this time of year! There's no reason to be a hater this time of year! 

Let's have a swap!

This one is simple:

-there isn't a limit to spend as much as I figure $10 bucks is a nice number. 

-try to get your package to your partner as close to Feb 14 as possible

and last but not least

DO NOT SIGN UP IF YOU AREN'T GOING TO FOLLOW THRU!

That's really it.  

Send some yummy treats, find some pink things, make homemade valentines, think outside the box and do whatever you think your partner might like.

♥Wanna sign up?♥

Send an email answering the following simple questions to tryingourbest @ yahoo . com 

♥

Name

Email

Mailing address

Blog address {if you have one}

****ANY FOOD ALLERGIES***

Any favorite Valentine candies?  

Are you willing to mail to an APO?FPO address? {This does not cost you any additional postage, the only difference is that you will need to fill out a simple customs form}

Anything you want to add?

♥

Again, please don't sign up if you aren't going to follow thru, its not fair to your partner.  Sign up's will be open until Jan 19.  My goal is to have swap partner's assigned and emails sent out with everyone's info by the end of that week.

The goal of every swap is for everyone to have fun.  

I try my best to organize everything and be available to help out anyone who needs it. I hope those who participated in the Christmas swap had fun, I really did try my best, but unfortunately I did have several things, mainly 3 weeks of sick kids, come up, but with every swap I'm learning.  I'm hope you'll all sign up and have fun!

♥Spread the word, share the link and lets spread some Valentine cheer!♥ 

And candy, lets send and eat some candy.

Also if you're participating in the swap it helps {but its certainly not required} if you follow this blog and my twitter @mrs_flyboy  this way you will see when I post messages or updates about the swap.

This time I'm really back....

Holy Crap! I have a blog?

Excuse my long absence, here's a quick rundown: sickness hit, flyboy was away, I was way behind on holiday stuff.  Flyboy came home, sickness was still hitting, last minute holiday stuff, sickness then seemed to be at bay, the craziness of the last few days of school and holiday things there, then the holidays, then I thought would come down time.

No go.

Snow, 2 feet of the stuff, and more sickness.  This time, we got a 10 hour trip to the ER, blood work, chest xrays, a diagnoiss of pneumonia for dash-1, and a 5 day hospital stay. 

There, that's been my last month in a nut shell.

But I'm back baby.  I could say my new years resolution was to lose 30 lbs, blog more and yell less, but I'm gonna be honest, I don't think I've ever kept a resolution so I'm just gonna work at it.  After all life is just a work in progress right?

I do have a couple things in the works, a giveaway for chili's, some new things for our Etsy store, and I'm thinking of doing a Valentine's swap.  No real rules, just a $10 dollar price limit, send pink stuff, send candy, don't care.  More on that in the next week or so. 

So that's where I stand.  Right here.  In my sweats {but hey I'm wearing a bra, points for that right?} things, to come, I'm going to do my best to revive my poor neglected failing blog, maybe even a new look for it, stay tuned folks.

But enough about me.... what have you lovelies been up too? Any "non-resolutions" resolutions?